BIOTECH-ROOM2-L Archives

Moderated conference on GMOs in the pipeline, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum in 2012

Biotech-Room2-L@LISTSERV.FAO.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Proportional Font
Show HTML Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Biotech-Mod2 <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Biotech-Mod2 <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:51:18 +0100
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (25 lines)
I am E.M. Muralidharan from India. I work for a publically funded forestry research organization and am involved in different aspects of research in  biotechnology of forestry species. 

I thought it would be relevant to the ongoing discussion on GM crops in India, particularly on Bt Brinjal, to point out that a mass petition was recently submitted to the Supreme Court of India, signed by at least 100 scientists, urging that the recommendations of the court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) be implemented. The TEC had earlier advocated a moratorium or ban on open field trials of different categories of GM crops until certain criteria were met. The Government of India had opposed the findings of the report. 

It would be a mistake, I feel, to show haste in deployment of GMOs without first reconciling the issues that has been raised against them, even if some of them are not based on science. That would go a long way in making the technology acceptable to a larger section of the public eventually. As pointed out by Suman Sahai (Message 35) the important issues are that the regulatory system is not as well established as one would want it to be, to be effective and there are issues such as labeling and liability laws that have not even been discussed in the public sphere. The prevalence of illegal GM cotton in India and of Bt brinjal across the border in Pakistan (Tassawar Malik, Message 26) is itself an indication of the ground reality when it comes to effectiveness of regulatory systems.  

On the other hand, the advancements made within India in the area of GMOs are too extensive and with great potential, albeit for the future, to be stifled with a blanket ban. Scientific options are available to overcome potential risks given a larger time frame. My suggestion then, is that GM crops in the pipeline remain there for a while and we address in the meanwhile the issues that have made the technology so unpopular to a large section of the people who are the intended beneficiaries.  

All things considered it is best that research and contained field trials be permitted under strict regulatory supervision and transparency, so that the technology and its impact is studied in its entirety and reviewed later for implementation when regulatory mechanisms and an effective infrastructure to implement them are in place.  

Dr. E.M. Muralidharan
Biotechnology Department, 
Kerala Forest Research Institute
Peechi, Thrissur, 
Kerala, 
India
emmurali (at) gmail.com
 
[To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information on this FAO Biotechnology Forum, see http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/] 

########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the Biotech-Room2-L list, click the following link:
https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=Biotech-Room2-L&A=1

ATOM RSS1 RSS2